About us

The NESCAFÉ story

In 1929, Nestlé was challenged to help preserve the surplus coffee beans in Brazil that resulted from the Wall Street Crash. And Nestlé accepted the challenge.

Our coffee specialist, Max Morgenthaler, was on a mission to create a delicious cup of coffee simply by adding water. Max and his team worked hard to find a new way to make instant coffee that would retain the coffee’s natural flavour. In 1938, they found the answer, and NESCAFÉ was born. Named by using the first three letters in Nestlé and suffixing it with ‘café’, NESCAFÉ became the new name in coffee.

The world’s favourite coffee

When we first launched NESCAFÉ in Switzerland on 1 April 1938, it was predicted to be a huge success. But then WWII started in 1939. During the war, NESCAFÉ was a staple in the food rations of the US forces, and they loved it. Quick, easy and delicious coffee.

After the war, NESCAFÉ was exported to France, Great Britain and the US, and the American troops became our brand ambassadors, spreading their love of NESCAFÉ.

During the rest of the 1940s, the popularity of NESCAFÉ grew. Today, NESCAFÉ is enjoyed in over 180 countries and has become the world’s favourite coffee.

On top of the world

This photo was taken in 1953, during the record-breaking expedition to Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay, and a trusty little tin of NESCAFÉ.

To the moon and back

In 1969, NESCAFÉ joined the crew of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, in their pioneering mission. The first coffee to land on the moon.

We’re here to help coffee lovers everywhere. So we made the NESCAFÉ Plan. It’s a way to help coffee farmers make a better living; support local communities; inspire the next generation of farmers; and do so without damaging our planet. It’s a long journey, but we’ve got the roadmap and we’re already on the way.

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